Glen Ellyn board candidates talk downtown development

The four candidates vying for a spot on the Glen Ellyn village board have slightly different visions for the development of the community's historic downtown.

The candidates hoping to fill three open seats on the board this spring are John Kenwood, Carol Fontana, Mark Senak and incumbent Peter Ladesic.

Kenwood, Fontana and Senak won the support of the village's Civic Betterment Party at a town-hall meeting in December. Ladesic is running against the party's candidates with the hopes of securing a third term on the board.

Typically, those who have won enough votes at the party's town hall go on to win the official April election.

But Ladesic bucked that trend about a decade ago when he won a seat on the board after running as an independent.

Glen Ellyn's central business district already is the site of a major development proposal slated for the former Giesche Shoes property.

The proposal calls for the construction of a building complete with residential units and some retail space, as well as a nearby parking structure.

The four candidates have their own ideas as to what development should occur in downtown.

Kenwood, who now serves as the Glen Ellyn Elementary District 41 school board president, said the village needs to bring "unique, niche type of experiences that people would want to come to" in the downtown area.

Although it would be nice to bring one or two vendors such as the Gap to the downtown, he said it also would be great to get more mom-and-pop and entrepreneurial businesses.

Kenwood said the community needs to decide what kinds of niches it can go after and then have a proactive approach about obtaining them.

"Then I think the next part of that is we as a board and as an administration need to step in with the mindset of making these people successful, helping them get through the rules and regulations," Kenwood said.

Senak, who sits on the village's architectural review commission, said the site of the now-closed McChesney and Miller grocery store and a nearby parking lot would be the most natural area for further development. He said he would like to see retail space on the first level of any development considered by the village because Glen Ellyn needs to develop retail space.

However, when it comes to national chains versus mom-and-pop joints, he said he does not favor one over the other.

"I certainly would like businesses that are committed to preserving the charm and character of the downtown area," Senak said, "while understanding that doesn't necessarily mean that some of the national chains that might be interested there or some of the local chains that might be interested there wouldn't be willing to comply with that type of design."

Ladesic said he would like to see more residential units downtown.

"In order for us to attract retailers downtown, we need to have residents downtown who will patronize the retailers," Ladesic said.

Fontana said she would like to see a grocer come back to the McChesney site.

"If you're going to encourage people to live in the central business district, it would be nice to at least have a small grocer return to that area, whether it's a stand-alone building or a part of an office or apartment complex," Fontana said.

She said she thinks it's important for the apartments to be built and that the village should look at bringing businesses to the downtown that would support people who would move into the area.